The invention relates to a female connector and connecting socket for producing a high-power data line connection to such a female connector.
In order to produce a data line connection from a server to a terminal (channel) or between the corresponding connecting socket (link) with a high data transmission capacity, all the components of the channel or link, in particular the data cables and connecting sockets, have to satisfy specific minimum requirements relating to their transmission characteristics. The components are subdivided on the basis of their transmission characteristics into various categories of which, at the moment, categories 5, 5e and 6 are of particular interest. It is planned to standardize the specifications for components in the relevant categories. On the basis of a standardization proposal such as this, cables in categories 5, 5e and 6 have to suppress the near end crosstalk or NEXT by 32.3, 35.3 or 44.3 dB at 100 MHz. For connecting sockets of categories 5, 5e and 6, values of 40, 43 and 54 dB apply for NEXT losses at 100 MHz. The requirements for classes 5, 5e and 6 can be satisfied relatively well at the moment for cables, but no satisfactory solution exists for connecting sockets, particularly those in category 6.
Connecting sockets normally have at least one female connector, for example an RJ45 female connector, with a holding element for the plug of a data cable and two or more elongated contact elements, which are bent in a hook shape, extend over the majority of the length of the holding element and, during use, make contact with the lines of the data cable, or the corresponding contact elements on the plug. The female connector is mounted on a base printed circuit board, which contains line connections to a connecting strip for a further data cable, which is generally stationary. One end of the hook-shaped contact elements of the female connector is in each case passed out of the holding element and is soldered directly to the base printed circuit board, or to a line connection on it. In known designs, the electrically conductive components are located in the immediate physical vicinity of one another without any screening, and interfere with one another. RJ45 female connectors have 8 contact elements which are located alongside one another, for the 4 pairs of lines in the corresponding data cables. One line pair is in each case associated with the contact elements 1/2, 4/5 and 7/8, while a further line pair is connected to the contact elements 3 and 6. Because of this physical arrangement, the interference between the pairs 3/6 and 4/5 is particularly severe.
In order to reduce interference, it is known for the base printed circuit board to be equipped with a compensation circuit which decouples individual lines or line pairs from one another, for example capacitively. Connecting sockets with such compensation circuits generally comply with the category 5 or 5e requirements. However, an improvement by 11 dB at 100 MHz is required for the jump to category 6, and this has not yet been achieved with the described design.
A female connector with a holding element and a printed circuit board integrated in it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,211. A compensation circuit is located on the printed circuit board, in order to reduce interference.
The invention is thus based on the object of providing a female connector and a connecting socket with improved transmission characteristics. The female connector should preferably have the same geometry as female connectors that are already in use, in particular in accordance with RJ45, in order to be compatible with conventional standard plugs.